The Reaper Wars: Vignettes
by TinyElephant
Summary: A series of vignettes for the Reaper Wars, showcasing all the characters I wanted to see more of in ME3. Requests are welcome, most vignettes are filled requests. Warnings for language, some violence. No smut.
1. Chapter 1

**i.**

"I used to think the Collectors sounded creepy, but then I heard a Cannibal."

She leans out from behind the communications tower wall and fires at the ex-batarian monstrosity barrelling toward her. Got it. Good thing she packed the Kassa Locust for a 'standard communication recon mission'. Pity she's running low on ammo – on Palaven, of all places. Don't turians practically eat ammo?

"Never heard a Collector myself, ma'am, so I can't comment." Her companion waits for her to return to cover, then steps out, aims, and fires. There is a great roar, burning yellow fire spreading out across the battle field. The screams of dying husks join the echoing blast.

Kasumi rests her head against the tower wall, reloading by instinct. She contemplates her companion's black visor for a moment, heedless of the bullets zipping past her head. "You know, I really have to question Tali's taste in men."

"Why's that, ma'am?"

She thinks a moment, tugs her hood over her eyes against the blaring scarlet explosions. "Well, I know she had a crush on Shepard way back when they were taking down Sovereign." She takes a moment to provide covering fire as her companion reloads his rocket launcher, then continues, "Anyone could see that. But I'm beginning to think that maybe she just likes men with heavy weapons."

Kal'Reegar chuckles, gesturing for her to step back into cover. He lifts the rocket launcher to his shoulder and says, "If you'd like to take your chances, ma'am, I think we can get you up that tower now."

"Wonderful." She flicks her cloak on, shimmering out of sight. As Kal takes the heat off her – literally – with another well-placed rocket sent into the hoard of oncoming Reaper forces, Kasumi swings beneath his protective arm and dances up the tower ladder.

"I hope they remember to come pick us up when we're done," she says, slightly breathless, into her comm. Kal's dry chuckle follows her up.

"I'll remind them, ma'am. Just get that comm relay fixed."


	2. Chapter 2

**iii.**

"This is a fucking disaster."

Her arms, held up above her head, trembled with exertion. Fucking Shepard and her fucking ideas of teamwork and gigantic biotic bubbles. Of course the Queen of the Girl Scouts' ideas would come back to haunt her. Jack flinched as another husk threw itself at her protective bubble: it bounced back, repelled by the combination stasis and reave she'd been holding in position for the past ten minutes. Just like being back at the damn Collector base, only this time the companionship was even worse. Hell, even the salarian had been better than ... this.

"That's an understatement."

Tattoo outlines traced in flickering blue energy, Jack turned her head to glare at her companion. "What the fuck are you doing here, anyway?"

"Saving your life."

"Yeah? Well I don't need a helping hand from Cerberus' number-one fan."

Miranda didn't blink, both hands extended toward Jack's legs, trapped beneath the heavy, shattered beam. Her hands were haloed with her own biotic energy, working to lift the beam free from its embedded position. Even in the middle of a battle on some forsaken backwater planet, separated from the rest of Jack's kids and the Alliance soldiers they were assisting, Miranda looked her usual collected self. Fucking Cerberus. "You have two options here, Subject Zero. Stay here and be killed by the husks when you burn out your amp, or shut the hell up and let me work so we can both get out alive."

"Call me Subject Zero again and I'll rip your fucking head off – aaah!"

"Call me Cerberus again and I'll rip your legs off."

The beam shifted, lifting free from Jack's legs. Her biotics flickered as pain tore through her lower body. Miranda lunged forward, throwing the beam out of Jack's bubble at the waiting husks, and joining her own biotics to Jack's. The protective bubble steadied. Jack swore, trying to move her legs. More pain, but she could move.

"Take over," she snapped. Miranda nodded, the buzz of her biotics strengthening to replace Jack's. Okay, so Jack had to admit she wouldn't like to meet Miranda in a fight. Jack would win, of course, but it wouldn't be pretty. She let her biotics die down, a wave of relief streaking down her exhausted body to help numb the pain. Jack rolled over and hauled herself to her feet in one abrupt move. Fucking hell. She staggered, knocking against Miranda. No broken bones. Jack sent a mental thanks to Zaeed for insisting she start wearing armour on at least her lower half.

"You alright?"

"What the fuck do you care."

"I'm not dragging you out of here. You walk, or you stay behind."

Jack straightened and rejoined her biotics to Miranda's bubble. "Fuck you."

Did Miranda just grin? Fuck it, Jack had just fallen for reverse fucking psychology. A husk hurled itself at their protective barrier. Jack grunted and added a little more power to the reave she'd woven through the energy.

"Okay. Rodriguez should've got my kids down to the second level by now."

"We'd better move if we want a ride off here." Miranda glanced over her shoulder. "And we've got more company."

Five Cannibals had appeared from the smoking ruins of the top floor.

"You take the barrier, I'll reave their asses. Ready?"

"Ready."

Jack dropped her biotics from the barrier, hearing Miranda take a deep breath to steady herself as the bubble shifted against the Cannibal's bullets.

"I've found warp to be particularly effective against Cannibals. Let's move."

Jack limped backwards, protecting Miranda's back as the Cerberus cheerleader started her slow way down the battered, smoking hallway to the elevator shaft. If they got out of this one alive, it'd be a miracle. She hoped Rodriguez had got the kids back to the Alliance soldiers. A Cannibal began to charge, throwing itself forward toward its retreating prey. Jack threw a warp at it: the Cannibal lurched and flew gracefully into the air. She added another, smaller, reave and watched with satisfaction as Cannibal guts sprayed through the air.

"Hey, Miranda."

Even under the strain of having a dozen husks smash themselves against a case of blue energy, with Cannibals firing and her worst enemy beside her, Miranda still sounded like a fucking school teacher talking to her class. "What is it, Jack?"

"We get out of this alive, I might even buy you a drink."


	3. Chapter 3

**iiii**.

A year ago she was living it up on Illium, gleefully nailing asari criminals and raking in the credits. She had quality clothes, a job she loved, more finances than she knew what to do with, and a nice little apartment way up at the top of one of Illium's most prestigious towers.

So what the hell was she doing, one year on, wearing armour she'd scavenged from a dead commando, carrying a heavily-modded shotgun she barely knew how to use, escorting refugees to safety? She had found out the hard way: solving crime wasn't the same as stopping it. If Reaper-led genocide counted as 'crime'.

Gianna glanced around the shuttle, checking her civilian cargo again. They all seemed ... very calm. In fact she wasn't even sure they counted as civilians. These colonists had survived better than most Alliance soldiers in this sector, and the reason behind their survival still creeped her out. Really creeped her out. But she trusted her old friend, even if Shiala had dropped off the grid for months, then turned up on Illium all ... green. Very green. And desperate for help against the corporate monsters Gianna so loved pinning under her thumb.

One of the children was staring at her. Gianna stared back. The child didn't blink. After a moment, Gianna stood up and ducked through to the cabin. She dropped into the co-pilot seat and said, "I want a shower."

Shiala didn't look at her. The shuttle was an old beast, erratic and not designed for long flights, let alone relay jumps across half of galactic space. It jumped and shuddered, complaining the whole way, taking all of the asari's concentration.

"We're almost there."

"Got visual?" The investigator in her was still cautious, even in these upside down days of survival at any cost, where you took what you could get without looking too closely.

Shiala nodded, and flicked a screen across to Gianna's console. The image trembled, grainy but visible.

Gianna stared at it for a moment, then said, "Shouldn't we have radio contact by now?"

"I've hailed them, but there's no response."

"How much traffic?"

Shiala didn't reply for a moment, then, "... Nothing. We're the only new arrivals."

Gianna frowned at her console. Something wasn't right. Perhaps she was just getting paranoid: but instincts were what had got her into the job, and instincts had never failed her yet.

"Try the emergency channels."

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

Shiala turned the radio on.

"_This is Oriana Lawson. Stay away from Sanctuary. It's not what it seems ..."_

The message faded out, then returned, looped. They listened to it once, twice, three times.

"Shiala," Gianna said in her calmest voice, "Get us out of here."


	4. Chapter 4

**vi.**

_Crack._

"Oh come on, that was not your kill, Vakarian!"

"Word to the wise, Williams, I'm the team sniper, you're the muscle."

"And what am I, chopped vorcha?"

"You're the brass, ma'am. Geth, three o'clock—"

_Crack._

"Damnit, Vakarian!"

"What? You wanted it, you should've shot it, not announced it."

"Fine, you wanna play like that? Okay. Hey Commander, can I borrow your pistol?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

_Crack-crack—crack._

"Hey Chief, I think you finally silenced Vakarian."

"Finally."

"... Did you just take out a geth from sniper range with a pistol?"

"What, you thought I couldn't shoot straight?"

"... Holy crap."

_Crack-crack-crack-crack._

"Garrus, you might want to start shooting things again."

"Sorry, ma'am." _Crack._ "Did you just see what Williams did, though?"

"Yep. Move up."

_Crack-crack-crack._

"And now she's taking my kills. My sniper kills. With a pistol."

"Shut up and shoot, Vakarian."

"Yes ma'am."


	5. Chapter 5

**v.**

In her worst nightmares, Kelly feels the flesh melting from her bones, feels the scream losing traction in her dissolving throat, the air being sucked from her lungs. She slaps her hands against the cold amber and watches her skin leave ashy prints. In her worst nightmares, she feels her bones creak and shiver into nothingness just as Shepard tears the amber casing away, and she is lost as the Commander cries out her name.

In her worst nightmares, Kelly dies and dies again, surrounded by the screams of her friends, her crew, and thinks '_there is nothing left'_.

She wakes in a cold sweat, huddled in the back of her refugee shelter. Sometimes she has a blanket. Sometimes she lends it to the young asari family opposite, or the lonely batarian with the surprisingly lovely singing voice, or the teenage girl who waits for her parents under the watchful eye of the turian C-Sec officer. Either way, she is always cold.

The best thing is simply not to sleep. Stims are surprisingly easy to come by, and now she knows that Cerberus are still looking for Yeoman Kelly Chambers, she has good reason to use them. She barely recognises her new self - dark, short hair, gaunt and hollow-eyed, always hungry, never smiling. She tells herself: if she doesn't know who she is, then Cerberus won't either.

She's woken from her worst nightmare, screaming and kicking even before she opens her eyes, and knows she was wrong. Cerberus have found her. She fights, as best she can, but what use is it? The gleaming black visors glare with red-eyed, purposeless hatred at her. They drag her from her hiding place, distorted voices confirming her identity. She thinks, for a moment, that perhaps she should have died in the Collector base.

There's a gun pressed into her neck and she's waiting for it to go off, sobbing into her hands, thinking _'there is nothing left'_ –

- and the Cerberus trooper slumps to the floor beside her, Mattock falling from lifeless fingers. Her training kicks in, and she scrabbles out of the way as another Cerberus trooper jumps backward, gun raised against his attacker. Biotic energy hurls him against the opposite wall; he falls and does not rise.

Kelly dashes into the corner and twists to see who her saviour is; the blue light is so bright she can barely see through her tears. The light flashes brighter, brighter, then dissipates, leaving five more Cerberus soldiers dead. A single figure stands tall, fists holding biotic energy.

Eyes as ancient as humanity turn to find Kelly, huddled in the corner. "Are you alright?"

Kelly nods, not trusting her voice, and accepts the offered hand. She stands. "Thank – thank you," she whispers. "I'm alright."

"Then be safe."

Her saviour offers a cool, gentle smile, and walks away.

In her worst nightmares, now, as her skin dissolves and the rattling crackle of the Collectors' mocking laughter echoes across her terrified, lonely mind, Kelly slams her hands against her amber prison, and thinks '_there is nothing left_'.

And as she does so, she sees a blue-haloed asari stride toward Kelly's prison, and she is calm, and knows that justice has found her, and will keep her safe.


End file.
